Endeavor: The Rise Of Light
by Nigel Yearning
Summary: The OC had been split into two and Papa Smurf must reunite them before the Dark Presence finishes everysmruf off, can he succeed before all the smurfs are consumed in darkness? Papa Smurf POV. Sequel to When Darkness Falls.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

I felt the earth shake and a loud deafening roar, I thought the village was under attack again. From what had happened in the past few days was pure evil, my brain was still straining from processing it all. My heart felt heavy from the shock, I couldn't tell if I was panicking or having a heart attack. Just hearing that loud noise made me so scared than all the fear I have ever felt in my entire lifetime, I immediately assume the worse.

I got out of bed and rushed out into the night where I found all my smurfs running in the same direction, I followed them towards the extremely tall smokestack at the far end of the village, just near the large body of water. There lived a special kind of smurf, who doesn't deem himself as a smurf at all. His name was Chernov Reznov, he's at least 4 apples tall and quite skinny. His skin was grass green, and he wears what he calls M81 woodland camouflaged jacket, pants and smurf hat. He was the only young male smurf I know of who has a full head of hair, and it looks quite good.

Chernov was the most non-sociable and the most stubborn creature I've ever met, yet he is extremely intelligent and just as wise from me. He's by far mature, and only shows his true age when intoxicated with a substance. What makes him really special wasn't his talents, it's because he's half-human. His mother was a smurfette created by Gargamel's spell, she however past away from childbirth. His human father tried his best but Chernov still suffers from the loss, and so he resides here after a brief childhood.

I fear he may corrupt my little smurfs with his human traits and behavior, turns out he fears it as well. He only talks to me and Brainy, but no one else. Being part of the new "green smurf" species created by his father, he tries his best to make sure his half-brothers and sisters leave us light blue smurfs alone, but he's quite impatient at times and often blows his stack.

Despite his destructive and arrogant behavior, Chernov is usually feeling neutral as he calls it. He gets along with his peers quite well, and even has found true love. A green smurfette named Rachael stays with him at his house, and they had two little green smurflings together named Cherskey and Nelly. Rachael has blonde hair and wears green overalls and a camouflaged smurf hat, as Cherskey wears camouflaged smurf hat and pants and Nelly wheres green overalls and camuflaged smurf hat, both smurflings has brown hair like Chernov.

What I find hilarious about Rachael is that she doesn't have much in common with Chernov, for starters she's overweight. Since green smurfs have the ability to store body fat, thanks to human traits, Rachael packed it on from a healthy appetite and developed a waist twice as large as a regular smurf. Rachael seemed to be the most happiest of all the green smurfs, and since all first generation green smurfs, with the exception of Chernov, are children of Smurfette, she became close to her. Just half off all green smurfs liked her, the rest hated her for some reason.

Rachael is a tomboy, just like Sassette and all other green smurfettes. Even though she does of course feminine stuff with Smurfette, she doesn't really like girl stuff. I thought this was unusual, especially when she and many green smurfettes call me "Pappy." That's not the only thing, despite being heavy she proves to be as strong as Hefty Smurf. Maybe even stronger judging on how many times she beat him in arm wrestling, and him not beating her once. She proves a valuable asset to the village, since she scores superior in physical labor.

Her job keeps her strength up, or its due to genes as Chernov claims. Awhile not working, she was seen sleeping or eating, but is reluctant to work when the time calls for it.

Cherskey and Nelly are twins, and they get along fine with the other smurflings. Instead of helping out with the village, they were seen being educated by Chernov and Rachael for a good part of the day. Chernov values knowledge greatly, and is determined to pass his down to his smurflings. Taught them a lot of things that I don't even know, all I know is that Chernov gets a lot of his knowledge from his father. An information junkie, he studies pretty much about everything, by learning how nature works.

He knows more about the universe than Grandpa Smurf, he knows more on what its made of than me. He's quite a chemist as he calls himself, not an alchemist, just a chemist. Able to explain why any substance react and why in such a way that I feel like his student, but I must remember is that he's our protector. He had saved us from many disasters with his own hands, he even got them dirty when dealing with life-threatening situations.

This time it's different, we were dealing with our latest foe. An entity called the Dark Presence, its hard to describe what the Dark Presence is it resembles no life form in the universe. Its simply dark smoke-like clouds, these clouds don't show themselves directly but they take over anysmurf and anything in its path. Either creatures or inanimate objects, the Dark Presence possessed them to create the Taken, whose purpose is to serve and fight for the Dark Presence throughout their existence.

The Taken we were fighting for once our friends and loved ones, now their just monsters inside of husks. Sure they may retain echos of their former lives, but they are just dead nerve twitches, there is truly nothing left of them, only darkness.

The Dark Presence was after Chernov, and so focused most of its energy on him. It used him to write a story that could have ended in disaster, but Chernov got the better of the entity. Turns out, whatever Chernov writes comes true. He used that power to bring everysmurf that the Dark Presence had taken back, forcing the entity back to the drawing board. Turns out, it had been planned this from the start and now its acting immediately.

The story Chernov written protected him and all of us from the Dark Presence, unless the story says its time for one of us to die. With the story finished, we are no longer under its protection and the Dark Presence can pretty much kill us. It could have done it that night, but it didn't. Its probably because Chernov severely weakened it, but it has enough strength to perform its latest attack in which me and my smurfs are now responding to.

Everysmurf were in their pajamas as they rushed to the scene, holding candle lanterns to see where they're going. We all approach Chernov's house as we saw the Dark Presence in the form of a tornado just stroll away into the night, all the smurfs screamed from seeing the Dark Presence once again.

"Smurfs!" I ordered, "Calm yourselves!"

Rachael came running out of the mushroom house in panic, Cherskey and Nelly remained inside as Rachael held out what is called a flashlight, a small portable light source generated by stored electrical energy instead of a simple flame. "Chernov!" she cried as she looked up at the sky, "Where's Chernov?"

"He's gone!" cried Cherskey.

"We just saw the Dark Presence leave!" cried Brainy, "It must have Chernov!"

"Don't jump to conclusions Brainy!" warned Hefty, "You don't know smurf!"

Suddenly we heard a roar, then something fell out of the sky. Rachael shined her flashlight at it, it was a camouflaged smurf hat. She rushed up to it, picked it up, and examined it. "This is Chernov's ," she announced, "Its really his."

Rachael broke down in tears and ran back into her house, dropping her flashlight in the process. She didn't shut her front door, but I did hear something slammed shut. "Smurfette." I called out to her.

"Yes Papa Smurf?" she asked.

"Keep an eye on Rachael for the night," I instructed, "Do not let her leave your sight."

"Of course Papa Smurf." replied Smrufette.

Smurfette rushes into the house and shut the door, "Go back to bed smurfs," I announced, "We'll talk about this in the morning, just keep the lights on and you'll be fine."

As the smurfs depart, I approached the flashlight Rachael had dropped and picked it up. It was a metal black flashlight, it feels well built. Its light was quite bright, even though it was coming out of such a small device. I turned off the flashlight and head back to my house, once there I sat the flashlight and my candle lantern on the nightstand. I blew out the lantern's small flame and climbed back into bed, there I try my best to sleep.

When I woke up, daylight was shining through my windows. I got out of bed and got dressed, I simply pulled off the pajamas and put on my red pants. With that done, I stepped outside and discovered a crowd of smurfs in front of my house. They were at a comfortable distance, they wanted a plan from me after what happened last night.

"We're scared Papa Smurf," said one of the smurfs, "With Chernov gone..."

"We have made due without him in the past," I noted, "We've faced many threats against us before he has ever existed, and scored victory each and every smurf. Don't worry my smurfs, we'll survive this threat as well."

"You saw what the Dark Presence smurfed at us," said another smurf, "It took over everything, and turned unfortunate smurfs against us. We would have died if Chernov hadn't smurfed in to save the day."

The smurf was right, we wouldn't have survived without Chernov. The moral was so low that there was nothing more I could do, "I'm going to go check on Rachael," I finally says, "Everysmurf get to work and try to keep yourselves busy, I'll think of something for our situation."

As the smurfs depart, I head to Chernov's house to meet up with Smurfette. I saw the smokestack not smoking at all, I approached the front door and knocked on it. Smurfette answered the door, she seems glad to see me. "She's hurt," said Smurfette, "Her smurflings are becoming stressed by her condition."

"Take her kids out into the village and play with them," I said, "I'll handle Rachael myself."

"I hope you can make her feel better." said Smurfette.

Smurfette soon rounded up Cherskey and Nelly, the twins appeared to be just as sad but not as bad as Rachael. As they leave, I head inside the house and head to the back room. I knocked on the bedroom door, "Rachael?" I called out to her, "Are you there?"

"Yes." she muttered.

I opened the door and saw her tucked into the corner of the small room, still clutching Chernov's hat. The room was only lit by the small window, and so it looks quite dark. "I'm sorry Rachael," I told her, "If only we could do more."

"He was trying to protect you," said Rachael, "But he can't protect himself from you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Think back on how hard Chernov tried to protect us," said Rachael as she looked at me in the eye, "Now imagine he's against us, you won't stand a chance. Chernov is taken, possessed, I can feel it in his hat. He's out there, but its not him anymore."

"Your becoming delusional," I claimed, "You must rest."

"A green smurf is only delusional if he or she cannot be reasoned with," snapped Rachael, "The Dark Presence is after you, and the hag will use Chernov to get to you."

I lend out my hand and Rachael took it, I helped her get back up to her feet and hugged her tightly. "At least we won't be surprised," I said, "The Dark Presence can't smurf us without us being aware its around."

"That's false security," said Rachael, "Why you think Chernov spends a good portion of the night looking after the village as you sleep?"

Her tone was getting more arrogant, "Just calm down Rachael," I insisted, "You're tired, you had a rough night, think of your smurflings."

"They're not stupid Pappy," she said, "They know what is to come, we cannot hide that fact from them."

"Just take it easy Rachael," I told her, "Chernov will tell you to rest if he's here."

"He would..." muttered Rachael, "But he's gone..."

Rachael began to cry again and I patted her on the back, "Let it out," I said as we sat down on the bed, "Just let it out."

Rachael cried on my shoulder for half an hour, I sat there thinking of everything she had said. Was the Dark Presence really after me? Am I really its next target? I don't know what to make of this, green smurfs are smarter than they appear, since they are horribly immature. "Are you okay now?" I asked.

"No," I said, "But I'll get bye fine."

"Okay Rachael." I said.

I let go of Rachael as she lays back on the bed, I got up and left her house, all in wondering what to do next.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Smurfette spends her time with Rachael, she was doing a better job in cheering her up than me. In no time, she managed to recover and went back to work. Rachael was still depressed, but it was kept in check by work. Green smurfs are bred to take pain, even emotional ones. She remained quite and non-sociable as she worked, and when she was not working she simply sleeps.

Days went by and nothing happened, their nights were quiet and peaceful. The smurfs were scared that the Dark Presence will ambush them sooner or later, but the anxiety managed to ease in some smurfs. We continued our schedule just as normal, and a week passes without incident. As I was working in my lab, I got a knock on my door. "Come in." I said.

It was Cherskey and Nelly, they were still sad about Chernov. They didn't ran up to me bursting with energy, they just walked towards me like zombies. "You need something little smurfs?" I asked nicely.

"You're screwed." said Cherskey bluntly, "You're definitely going to get your tail sliced off your rear."

Cherskey then held up a page, I grabbed it and unfolded it, it was a manuscript page. I recognized it as Chernov's writing, there's no doubt it was his:

_The figure stood before Papa Smurf from the distance underneath the slight glow of the moon, it bled shadows from every corner of its body. It held up an ax, showing it was stained with blood. It was a comfortable distance away from Papa Smurf, there were plenty of time for the village leader to get away. But just as he looks away, the figure suddenly appeared right before him. It charged, ready to swing its ax into Papa Smurf's skull. "You think you're god?" it roared, "You think you can create stuff OUT OF NOTHING!"_

When I finished reading it, I peeked over the manuscript page and saw that the twins disappeared. Pressure began to build inside my chest, I don't know what to think of this. I don't know how they found the manuscript page, what matters is that the events depicted on the pages have a nasty habit of coming true. I fear the worse, I folded the page back in half and sat it on the table and resumed back to work.

I spent hours working hard at several experiments, having been caught up by the Dark Presence I was performing experiments in making artificial light. I managed to make a light-sensitive paint, you won't know its there until you've shine a light on it. I spend days trying to make it, and finally it was a success. Relieved, I wrapped things up and looked out the window. It was now night.

I opened the door to my lab and stepped outside, everything seemed peaceful. I started for my house, hoping for no trouble. I looked inside a few of the smurfs' houses since their lights were on, I saw them sleeping in their bed. They were scared of the dark, they must have developed the fear of darkness. I think I'm developing it as well, I was starting to feel uncomfortable in the dark. I continued on and made it to a large clearing where something caught my eye at the distance, a figure standing on top of a mushroom house.

I stopped and stared at the figure, I saw the shadows clinging to its body, its dark shroud armor. It held an ax in its hand, he's just standing there staring at me. I tried to look away, but suddenly it appeared right in the clearing with me. The Taken was taller than me, and it looked powerful. It held up its ax and charged straight at me, "You think you're God?" it roared, "You think you can create stuff OUT OF NOTHING!"

It spoke in a partial demonic tone, between it own voice and a devil when exclaiming it words. The Taken rushed up to me and swing its ax at me, but I managed to dodge it in a fraction of a second. "You don't recognize me do you old timer?" it spoke, "You are ALWAY lousy when learning SOMETHING NEW."

I glanced at him, and recognized the Taken as Chernov. His eyes were dark and his pupils were red, I was convinced it was him since he wasn't wearing his camouflaged smurf hat, Rachael had it. He charged at me with his ax again and tried to swing it at me a second time, but I managed to dodge it right away. I saw the ax come down into the ground, Chernov removed it and suddenly disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

Terrified as smurf, I ran back home as fast as I can. The winds were beginning to pick up and the shadows were beginning to move, I managed to get back to my house and shut the door behind me. The Dark Presence was now attacking, I thought, Where's the flashlight?

The flashlight was where I left it, on the nightstand, I rushed over to by bed side and grabbed the flashlight and turned it on. It gave off a protective glow, I finally have something to weaken the darkness with.

The earth shook as I heard a monstrous roar, followed by several smurfs screaming out of the top of their lungs. The candle lanterns in my house went out as I try to maintain my balance, the Dark Presence gave off a final roar as the last of my smurfs screamed out their last cries. And just when things can't get even more frightening, my front door began to twitch violently in its hinges.

I shined the flashlight at it and I began to hear a loud sound, it sounded like a green smurf table saw gone mad. After a few seconds, the door burst into static and dissolved into nothing. That was scarey, so scarey that Gargamel would run for the hills at the sight of it. I ran out of my house and caught sight of something, right on the doorstep of the door was a gun. A simple pistol as it was called, I rushed up to it and grabbed the weapon. I don't like guns, they end lives and are dangerous, but I must have something in order to fight the dark things attacking my smurf village.

Now fully armed, I looked around the village to find any baddies, I noticed some of the mushroom houses were dark. And I saw some of the smurfs starting to scramble out of their homes to investigate what's going on, they were still dressed in their usual clothes so it must not be bedtime yet. Some of them had flashlights, others simply have guns. Only Brainy had both a flashlight and a gun, but he was staying put in his house.

I gotta make my way to Chernov's house where the ammunition was being kept, I'm going to need all the firepower I need to fight back the Dark Presence. I rushed for his house, but after getting about a stone's throw I saw something happen in the shadows. The shadows were clumping together from the distance, then vague humanoid forms came out of it, armed with pickaxes and hatchets. They were Taken.

"Wanna play smurfball?" one of them echoed.

They were my own smurfs, the Dark Presence had taken them. They were screaming just a moment ago, and now they've become the very thing they feared, darkness. "Oh no." I muttered.

I aimed my flashlight at one of the Taken, turns out light blue smurf Taken will either stay in one spot or scramble backwards, making it easy for me to hold them back. One of them thrown a hatchet at me, but I dodged it at the right moment. After I aimed the flashlight at them long enough, their dark shrouds flashed and vanished. I fired my gun at them, and killed each and every one of them. They simply burst into static upon death before vanishing into nothing.

My head hurts from killing one of my own, but I must shake off the pain, I had to get to Chernov's house.

I continued on my way towards his house, passing by wondering smurfs along the way. They were following me, since they had no idea what to do they thought they could follow me for safety. I had no plan, all I know is that Chernov keeps the equipment needed to make it through the night inside his house, he's gotta have some lying around.

"Help!" cried a smurf, "Smurf!"

Turns out that smurf was fighting back the Taken, he was running in the same direction I was heading. The Taken were right behind him, they were already tasting the kill. Eventually a Taken thrown a hatchet straight at the smurf, it lodges itself into the smurf's school, killing him instantly. Horrified, I just kept running and tried my best to dodge the hatchets and knives being thrown at me by the Taken. When I near Chernov's house, the small LED lightbulb above the door was glowing, bathing the front door with light.

When I rushed into the light, I looked back and saw the Taken vanished into darkness. In the light, I am safe from them, I've forgotten about that. "Rachael!" I cried as I pounded on the front door, "Rachael, are you there!"

She answered the door and saw me in a state of shock, "What happened Papa Smurf?" she cried.

"The Dark Presence is back," I replied, "You were right, Chernov is a Taken."

Her eyes went as big as the moon, "I'll get the guns," she said, "And extra ammo."

She went back inside as I followed her, I watched as she pulls out a long barreled rifle and handed the gun to me, "Sometimes it takes just one shot to kill them with this gun," said Rachael, "You'll also need this."

Rachael then handed me a more powerful flashlight, "A Heavy-Duty Lantern Flashlight is the best you can get when on the move," said Rachael, "I'll join you in a sec, I gotta make sure my smurflings are safe, just be careful okay?"

I tucked my weaker gun and flashlight into my pocket, "Don't worry about ammunation," said Rachael as he heads to the bedroom, "Chernov had hidden caches of them around the village, seek them out."

Rachael shuts and locks the bedroom door, I wonder if she was ever going to help me. No matter, I got smurfs to round up. I head back outside and shut the door behind me, I quickly ran back to my house just as the winds and shadows shift again. Once there, I saw a small group of smurfs either armed with only a flashlight or a gun. "Papa Smurf!" cried Smurfette as she approached, "What should we do?"

"We fight," I told her, "Hold them off for as long as possible."

Over at the distance, several smurf Taken came out of nowhere and charged straight at me. "Going by the River Smurf today." one of them echoed a dead nerve twitch.

I aimed my flashlight at them, the powerful flashlight Rachael gave me managed to strip off their protective darkness within a couple of seconds. The gun she gave me killed them with one shot, the power I held made me feel safe a little. My smurfs tried to help me fight back with their flashlights and guns, they know when to fire the conventional weapons and when to use their flashlights. It was conventional teamwork, you do this and I'll do that, simple as can be.

But that teamwork was put to the test after we killed the smurf Taken, random inanimate objects nearby came to life. The poltergeist hovered above the ground and twitched wildly before launching themselves at us, we aimed our flashlights at them and try our best not to get hit. There weren't very many of them, and it was easy to kill them with ease.

"Smurfs," I called out, "Follow me!"

The smurfs follow me as I rushed deep into the village, I need to check most of the mushroom houses with their lights still on to see if the smurfs were alright. As I pushed on, I encountered a Taken who moves at incredible speeds awhile making this weird sound. It was difficult to focus my flashlight on him, the Taken won't stay in one spot long enough for me to shine a light on him. Nevertheless, the Taken's dark shroud was removed and it stopped running. Me and my smurfs eventually gunned it down before it got a chance to attack us again.

"Your a HORRIBLE leader!" I heard Chernov's voice echoing from the woods, "You have your SMURFS stuck in this hole you CALL HOME and made no attempt to ADVANCE in your TECHNOLOGIES! Handy will help this VILLAGE a lot, but you are ARROGANT about his WORK!"

"I'm scared," whined Smurfette, "Is that Chernov?"

"I'm afraid so Smurfette," said Papa Smurf, "I'm afraid so."

"I'm not sure the Taken could taunt at us," said Smurfette, "Its sounding like he's talking to you."

"He is," I said, "With Chernov, the Dark Presence would wipe this village out. We gotta take out Chernov before he takes all of us out, there's no other way."

We all rushed to the lit mushroom houses and check them, all the smurfs were huddled in a corner or hiding underneath the bed, they were scared nearly half to death. I don't know who was more scary, the Dark Presence or Chernov, maybe they're one in the same.

Around the corner, I saw more Taken appear. This time they weren't my smurfs, they were green smurfs. They were camouflaged smurf hats and pants, have heads of brown hair, and have grass green skin as Chernov and his own family. Heck, all green smurfs are Chernov's family. Instead of having pear shaped bodies, their bodies were pencil straight, like Chernov, though some green smurfs are quite fat.

I don't know how these green smurfs got here, all I know is that they were possessed by the Dark Presence and were now under its control, they must be dealt with. "When smurfs get tired, they get careless." one of them muttered.

Me and my smurfs shined our flashlights at the green smurf Taken, instead of being held back they push on as they shield their dark eyes with an arm. That's the thing about green smurf Taken, its that they are die-hards in their former lives and will continue to be so in their new existences. Not only they were stronger, but more lethal, since most green smurf Taken branish axes.

Despite being tougher and take twice as long to remove their protective darkness, they were easily killed like the light-blue smurf Taken. My rifle was able to kill them with a single shot, so it was easy to handle them.

With the Taken taken care of, me and my smurfs resumed checking the mushroom houses. After checking the last of the mushroom houses, me and my smurfs head to the village center where Brainy and Clumsy was battling a few Taken. "Hold them back Clumsy," ordered Brainy, "We will soon save the day!"

"It's night Brainy." noted Clumsy.

"Correct me later!" snapped Brainy.

When I arrived with the smurfs, Brainy seemed relieved but disappointed in my arrival, he really wanted to be the hero again. I'll give him some credit for defending this area, it was quite important anyway. "Papa Smurf!" cried Brainy as Clumsy finished off the last of the Taken, "Thank smurfs you're okay."

"Papa Smurf!" cried a squeaky voice.

I turned and saw the Smurflings just showed up out of nowhere, two of them were holding flashlights awhile the other two were holding pistols. "Great smurfs!" I cried, "Why are you outside!"

"The Dark Presence forced us out into the open!" cried Snappy, "The goonies tried to get us but we gave them the slip."

"Papa Smurf," I heard Grandpa Smurf say, "Over here!"

I turned around and saw Grandpa Smurf approach with a few smurfs, he was holding a flashlight and a pistol, "I saw him Papa Smurf," said Grandpa Smurf, "That boy isn't the smurf I once know, he's gone, completely gone."

Rachael soon showed up, her kids followed behind her quickly. They were armed with better flashlights and guns than the other smurfs, "The lights went out," she said, "I hope you have a decent plan Papa Smurf, these flares would help us greatly."

Rachael passed around some flares among the smurfs, and even gave a few to me. "Chernov has a weak spot in his left shoulder," instructed Rachael, "Around the back of his collarbone, try to hit him there."

At the other side of the clearing, we saw Chernov stand on top of a mushroom building, simply looking at us. That's when many green smurf Taken appeared from the distance and started to march after us, "For the motherland!" blurted one of the Taken, probably talking about its former home, the Green Smurf Colony.

The amount of flashlights we shined at them was phenomenal, it was clear that we can hold them off with ease. "I am TIRED of covering your ASS through all these MONTHS," roared Chernov, "You know who needs this much PROTECTION? Kings Paps, because they need protection ALL THE TIME!"

After we defeated most of the Taken, Chernov got down from the mushroom house and disappeared into the cover of darkness. We had no idea where he went, "Where is he?" cried Smurfette.

"I got an idea." said Rachael.

Rachael rushed to the center of the clearing and sat down Chernov's hat before running back to us, after we finished off the last of the Taken Chernov came running in incredible speed right up to the hat. He stopped and picked the hat up and puts it on, he made sure it was one correctly. Distracted, Rachael made her move and shot a flare at him. She was armed with a flare gun, a device that shoots flares into the air to signal help. They were the best weapons to use against the Dark Presence and its Taken.

The bright green light of the flare traveled straight at Chernov and explodes, but Chernov ran out of the area just in time. "It almost worked." said Rachael.

Seeing how she fired at Chernov without hesitation was a sure sign that she was fully convinced he was gone, Rachael must have finally pulled her head out of the gutter and back into reality. "Did I get him?" she asked.

"No." I replied, "But seeing how he went for the hat proves that he's still thinking for himself, and judging how he's taunting me also proves that there is something left."

Everything went silent after the light from the flare goes out, me and all the smurfs held our breath and listened for him to arrived. I closed my eyes, and waited. Suddenly I heard the sound of a Taken going supersonic, then I made a dodge-roll. I looked back to where I once stood and saw Chernov there slamming his ax, he missed me about a fraction of a second. "Whoa!" cried several smurfs.

I aimed my flashlight at him, the light made him react but he still pushed on, he just marched towards me awhile shielding the light from my flashlight from his eyes. "I told you you are screwed!" I heard Cherskey called out.

Chernov charged at me and swing his ax, I dodged it again and rushed back to the groups of smurfs. Just as I regrouped with the smurfs, he pulled out a machete. I watched as he threw the machete straight at me, it glided through the air like a boomerang. Everything felt like slow motion as I dodged the machete by ducking, but the smurf behind me who didn't see the blade was hit.

At that moment where the smurf was hit, the smurf was consumed by darkness. Shadows from the machete clung to his body as his eyes quickly turned dark, I had just witness a regular smurf turned into a Taken right before my very eyes. "How does it feel like to be destroyed BY YOUR OWN COMRADES!" asked Chernov.

Rachael pulled out a flare and light it, the bright green glow of the flare repelled the Taken back as it screams gibberish. The shadows flashed off its body and I shot him, he burst into static before disappearing. When I returned my attention to Chernov, he was charging at me again. I aimed my flashlight at him as my other smurfs aimed theirs, his dark shroud was by far the most difficult to remove, instead of seconds it took minutes to remove it.

Looking closely where the light was hitting Chernov, I saw this bright perfect circle surrounding the area. I realized that this was a timer on how long I must shine the flashlight at him for, when the circle gets shriveled up the dark shroud will vanished. Not only does it tell you how long to train a light at the Taken, but how powerful the dark shroud is by its size. The circle on Chernov was huge, and it was shrinking slowly.

The smurfs spread out as they trained their flashlights at Chernov, he was definitely locked onto me. "Chernov," I tried to reason with him, "You are possessed by the Dark Presence, you gotta fight her!"

He didn't respond, maybe he didn't hear me, maybe he's deaf. Whatever the reason, it was a good try. Just as he came close enough, I saw the circle was just about to shrink into nothing. Recalling on how bad the smurfs were when using guns, I rushed pass him in tried to lead him out into the open. He nearly clawed me with his ax and he rushed up to me in hyper speed to try to kill me again.

I led him out in the open and shined my flashlight into his face, he growled as he was stunned by the light. I noticed the circle this time was bigger, not smaller, he must be able to regenerate his dark shroud. I keep my flashlight on him, until finally his dark shroud flashed off of his body. He stepped back from the loss of protection, and the smurfs proceed to gun him down. The bullets were hitting him, dispersing in puffs of static light.

They tried to fire at him, but he was resistant to the bullet's kinetic energy. He proves strong despite being horribly outnumbered, but was showing signs of defeat. I lift up my gun and aimed it straight at his stomach, and fired.

It went off in a loud bang, when it hit Chernov it stopped him cold in his tracks. He growled as he stepped backwards, a hand on his stomach. "Hold your fire!" cried Rachael.

All the smurfs stopped firing as we watched Chernov stood there, he didn't move a muscle. He looked down as he removed his hand, it was stained with blood. Chernov dropped his ax in response and collapsed face first into the ground, no smurf said a word.

I stepped backwards, giving Chernov space. We stared at him as he lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, the moment felt like a long time. Suddenly a cloud of darkness burst out of Chernov's body and forms itself into a tornado at the other side of the village center, the tornado roared before it heads off into the forest, tearing up vegetation along the way. Within a moment, it was gone.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Rachael rushed up to Chernov as her children followed her, she checked his neck for a pulse to see if he's still living, "He's alive!" she announced, "Lets get him medical attention!"

She picked up Chernov and carried him back to their house as me and several smurfs followed behind her, when we reached his house we saw it was dark. But when we approached, the electronic lights flickered to life. Something turned them back on, but no smurf seemed to noticed.

We rushed inside and Rachael placed Chernov on a concrete table, she pulls up his jacket and examined the wound, "You shot him in the liver, Pappy," said Rachael, "There is so much blood!"

She rushed to a drawer and pulled out surgical tongs, after disinfecting the tool we all watched as Rachael reached into Chernov through the bulletwound and extracted the bullet. As if by magic, Chernov's wound heals itself right before our very eyes. "I've forgotten about Chernov's ability to regenerate so quickly." said Grandpa Smurf.

"First he was trying to kill us and now we're trying to save him," said Brainy, "This is so ironic."

"There's no telling what the Dark Presence did to him," I said, "Everyone please get out as I-"

I was interrupted by a flash of light, suddenly a manuscript page fell out of nowhere. It floated down and rest itself on the edge of the table near me, I picked it up and read it out loud.

_The world was guided by strict laws of physics, bringing stability and order to the universe. The very fundamental building blocks that makes up the universe can be forged into many shapes and creations. Information cannot be destroyed, its only diluted, so the information is still there only unreadable. Use the flashlight to access the words, words have power. Whatever you do, please pick up the phone._

When I finished reading, the lights dimmed and floating white words appeared out of nowhere. All the smurfs gasped at their sudden appearances, I don't know what to make of them. There were 4 words that surround us: Flashlight, Block, Power, and Phone.

"Use the flashlight to access the words," I said, "The words will drop what they represent when light makes contact with them."

I shined my flashlight at the word "phone" since the manuscript wanted me to do so, it gave off sparks as a sound of a green smurf table saw roared from it. A second later, it burst into static before disappearing. It leaves behind a phone in its place and we watched it drop to the floor, leaving all of us confused at what just happened.

"That's Chernov's satellite phone," said Rachel, "How?"

I walked up to the phone and picked it up, that was when it began to ring. I flipped it open and the message "SOS" was displayed on the screen, I pressed the green button that turns on the phone and held it up to my ear.

"Can you hear me now?" I heard Chernov's voice on it, since it was on speaker mode everysmurf in the room can hear his voice..

"Good," I said, "Who is this?"

"It may be hard for you to understand Paps but I have been split in two by the Dark Presence," said the smurf on the phone, "Its me, Chernov. What you've just faced was part of me, you've actually fought was my Taken."

"This doesn't make any sense," said Brainy, "How can we be sure its you?"

"I'm the one who represents the rational part of Chernov," said Chernov, "The part of me who does not wanna give up. The Chernov who terrorized you is the one who dreams and is hopelessly lost, he just wanna give in and die. That is why the Dark Presence possessed him and sent me in the ass end of nowhere. To prove that its really me, I can sense what has become of my counterpart. For example, I sensed that Papa Smurf shot him in the liver in self-defense."

It made no sense, but past experience with my smurfs made me understand what has happened to Chernov. He had been divided into two separate entities representing a part of the original, if this is true then Chernov is still not safe.

"I trust you on this Chernov." I said.

"Good," said Chernov, "But don't trust the one whose in control of this situation, even though he's no longer a Taken doesn't mean he's no longer a threat. If he gets the chance, he'll write random manuscripts about anything. It can be either good or bad, it's like playing Russian Roulette."

"So if he gets a hold of a typewriter," I theorized, "He creates all sorts of smurf."

"Yup." said Chernov.

"Where are you anyway?" I asked.

"I'm in the middle of nowhere," I said, "Somewhere deep within Squeamy Squirming Grotto, I think its Squeamy Squirming Grotto. The name sucks more than my situation and I'm extremely pissed, since this is where the Dark Presence hides out. I can't find my way out, I need your help Papa Smurf."

"Me?" I asked.

"The Dark Presence will allow no smurf near this place," said Chernov, "Only you can save me, anyone who's going to help you save me will be killed."

"I don't know how I can pull this off, I am too old for this and-"

"You are the protagonist in this story Papa Smurf, not me. You are the hero this time, you must be the one who will save the day."

"I wanna talk to you about the ramblings your counterpart was rambling at me."

"I'll explain to you in person, just please come and save me. As you can tell by the tone of my voice, I had been attacked my multiple Taken. I don't get scared, I just get angry instead. Oh god, this place is horrible."

"Don't worry Chernov, I'll get you."

"I hope so, cause the hag here is such a bitch. Oh and one more thing, since Squeamy Squirming Grotto had been cursed by the Dark Presence, you can only come over here at night. The GPS on my phone will tell you where I'm at, so follow the signal and find me here. The reason why you must come at night because the signal disappears underneath the brightness of the sun, thanks a lot Mother Nature. Now would you excuse me, I have more bastards to send to hell."

Chernov hangs up, ending the conversation. I put the phone away and sighed, "I'm going to go find him," I said, "Alone."

"Tonight?" asked Rachael.

"Not enough time Rachael," I said, "The sun will show up and the signal vanish, it could take me hours to find him."

"Is the nightmare over for tonight?" asked Clumsy.

"I think so," said Grandpa Smurf, "Nothing else seems to be happening."

"Smurfs," I instructed, "Return to your homes with your flashlights and guns, and keep the lights on, okay?"

"Yes Papa Smurf." said the smurfs in unison.

As the smurfs leave, I turned towards Rachael, "You mind if I stay here for tonight?" I asked.

"Yes," said Rachael, "Just keep the door locked and you'll be fine."

"I'll risk it all," said Grandpa Smurf, "I'll stay with the Smurflings at Smurfette's house, I'll see you in the morning Papa Smurf, hopefully."

"Goodight Grandpa Smurf." I replied.

"Goodnight, my smurf," said Grandpa Smurf.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

I had a nightmare, it was vicious. I dreamed of many of my smurfs possessed by the Dark Presence and were sent against me, I was running for my life. But they kept coming, and coming, and coming. Eventually they surrounded me, and just when they were about to kill me, I woke up.

I was under the mercy of the sun once more, I felt so relieved. I looked around the room and saw Chernov's smurflings sleeping against the wall, they looked tired, exhausted. I looked back at the concrete table and saw Chernov's counterpart lay there, he was still breathing, I can tell by the rise and fall off his chest. Suddenly he stirred, he was waking up.

I got up and rushed over to the bedroom door and opened it, there I saw Rachael sleeping on the bed with her mouth open. "He's waking up!" I called out to her.

She jumped, till dozed in sleep she followed me out the bedroom and back to Chernov. The completely lost counterpart opened his eyes and us, standing right before him. He did not say a word, he looks like he's scared. "Chernov?" asked Rachael, "Can you hear me?"

Chernov turned her gaze towards Rachael, responding to his name. We helped him up to his feet, when he stood back up he hugged Rachael tightly. "Its okay Chernov," she said, "Everything's fine."

Rachael guided him and sat him on the chair, Chernov was acting like a zombie, he stumbled as he walked. She managed to get him on the couch where laid back, he stared straight at the ceiling in a catatonic state. "The Rational Chernov said not to let the Hopeless Chernov near a typewriter," I instructed, "I'll head out to the village to check on things, stay here and keep an eye on him."

"Yes Pappy." said Rachael.

I left their house and head out into the Smurf Village to inspect the damage, I discover broken windows and axes lodged within some doors. The smurfs happened to be gathering around a pit where I saw them burying the smurfs who had been killed by Taken, their were only 3 who had died, they were simply chucked into a hole and Miner Smurf fills it in. By the time I arrived, the hole was completely filled in.

"How bad's the damage?" I asked.

"I'm going to be busy all day," said Handy, "So many broken windows and destroyed doors, to be honest I'm not sure if I could repair the emotional damage that had been done."

"You can leave that to me Handy." I said.

"I never understood what Chernov feels on a daily basis, but after what happened last night, I understand completely."

Many smurfs agreed with him, then I continued, "You think you can make some outdoor lamps for the village?" I asked.

"I saw the Dark Presence attacked houses with lights on," said Handy, "It simply blew out the candles, I don't know if it will do much good. We're going to need to talk to a professional about the Dark Presence, someone who knows more about it than Chernov."

"I think Mother Nature would provide us with some answers," I replied, "I'll smurf over to her home and ask her myself, maybe there is a light in the darkness after all."

"Okay Papa Smurf," said Handy, "I'll stay here and fix up things awhile you're gone, don't be gone when night falls, I don't trust the forest anymore."

I head out of the village walked straight for Mother Nature's cottage, hoping not to find it abandoned. The Dark Presence could be haunting me in the day time, it can't do anything but only watch me. If anyone knows about the paranormal of darkness, its gotta be Mother Nature. Its just little more than a hope I have, I'm not sure if she would give me an explanation about the Dark Presence.

When I approached, I saw nothing wrong with Mother Nature's cottage. Everything seemed fine, I just hope its also fine inside. I walked up to the door and knocked on it, Mother Nature opened it a moment later. "Papa Smurf?" she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I need help Mother Nature," I answered, "I got an evil that had been woken up by Gargamel and its attacking my smurfs, its called the Dark Presence."

"The Dark Presence?" asked Mother Nature, "Sounds like witchcraft to me, come in."

I walked in and jumped onto a table where Mother Nature offered me tea, I declined. She soon sat down on her rocking chair and sighed, "I knew this day would come," she said, "The birds weren't singing as usual, it had been like that for weeks. I had a run-in with the Dark Presence before but I never knew it would be released by a human, do you know the Dark Presence's intentions?"

"It used Chernov to write a story," I explained, "Word for word, the story came true. Chernov though managed to find the upper hand and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, after reversing most of the damage done by the Dark Presence it came back for him and kidnapped him. There, he was split in two, a Rational Chernov and another who's just wanna give up and die. I had to fight his Taken last night."

"What does the Taken mostly consist of?" asked Mother Nature.

"Possessed smurfs," I replied, "Both my smurfs and green smurfs."

"Green smurfs are trouble," said Mother Nature, "No wonder Chernov doesn't live with them. I think I can help you, but I need to know where is the two Chernovs are at the moment."

"The one who went insane is at our village, the other one is deep within Squeamy Squirmy Grotto, he can't find his way out of there."

"Chernov and his green smurfs are technologically advanced, what do they used to fight the Dark Presence with?"

"Flashlights, flares, flare guns, and conventional weapons."

"Light, of course. There is not much I could help you with, all I can do is place caches of supplies in various areas in your path, the green smurfs might help me set the caches up into place."

"Thanks Mother Nature, I best go now. The smurfs are worried that I will be gone too long and the sun will set."

"Don't worry Papa Smurf, I'll be sure I could give you as much support as I can."

I came for answers but left with insurance, turns out she doesn't know much about the Dark Presence more than I do. If that's the case, then the Dark Presence must be either young or so ancient that it only exists in faded spell books. No one whose that old are aware of its existence, nor do they know how to destroy it. My best bet is finding Chernov to help fix everything. He's right, I am the protagonist this time, not him.

When I arrived back at the Smurf Village an hour later, I discovered that all the smurfs were struggling to get by. Their activities were slow and unmotivated, they appear more sad than any time in their history. I've seen such depression before but nothing like this. The loss of their fellow smurfs was not only stressing, its the fact that they were turned against them, I wonder how Chernov managed to deal with his own smurfs turned against them.

A quick flashback suddenly appeared in my mind. "The body means nothing, the soul means everything." I heard Chernov's voice say.

Hearing Chernov's voice in my head also made me wonder if I was losing it, driving towards insanity. I was having a partial meltdown of reality, everything doesn't make much sense anymore.

"Pappy!" I heard Rachael's voice cried, snapping me out of my delirium.

I turned and saw Rachael rushing towards me, "Something's wrong with Chernov!" she cried.

I followed her back to her house and found Chernov on the floor, shaking in fear. "Handy comes down with an ax," he blurted, "Tasting Papa Smurf's death!"

That was frightening, not to mention he was speaking in Russian as well. Cherskey and Nelly were no where in sight, so they haven't seen what's happening. We tried to get Chernov back on the couch, but he was fighting us. I cannot compare Chernov's strength to Hefty's, as Chernov can pulverize Hefty with his bare hands. But Rachael got the upper hand, literally, by doing a nerve pinch on Chernov's weak spot.

Chernov stopped screaming and squirming immediately, then he goes limp as he calms down. "There we go." said Rachael.

"You seem to know what you're doing Rachael," I said, "I haven't even done anything yet."

"I know how to tame Chernov," said Rachael, "You gotta know his physiology, he enjoys massages so that's how I discovered his weak spot."

"Why did he went crazy?" I asked

"He just went ballistic without warning."

"He said Handy will come down with an ax, does that sound like a prediction to you?"

"Since his writing can come true, why not his quotes?"

The thought caught me by the cross-hairs, if this is the case then Chernov don't need a typewriter to make scenes come true. "I'm going to prepare for this Rachael," I finally say, "I'm going to go out there tonight and rescue Chernov, I had enough of this nightmare."

"I don't think its called a nightmare anymore Pappy," said Rachael, "Its hell."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Night has come, I watched as the last of the sun submerges below the horizon. I counted the ammunition and batteries I have, double-checking to see if I have an efficient amount. I had a handgun out and ready, I decided not to bring a rifle with me since I thought it was to cumbersome. "I'm concerned about leaving you here Rachael," I said as I turned on my flashlight, "With your kids and all..."

"I'm scared but I'm not over-exaggerating the situation," said Rachael as she held Cherskey and Nelly in her arms, "Even though the Dark Presence was easily able to take the smurfs out here, I can at least fight back. I have an emergency flare system in place, so if the Dark Presence comes knocking it's going to get a face of bright green flames in its face."

"Please bring the rest of our Dad back," said Nelly, "It wouldn't be the same without him."

"I will Nelly," I replied, "I promise."

"I don't know how long its going to take you," said Rachael, "But if you're still gone by the time the sun rises, I'll know that something bad must have happen."

"Just keep the lights on and you'll be fine." I replied.

"Best if I turn this on then." said Rachael as she pressed a button on the wall.

Small lights arranged in an orderly fashion at the corner and door frame of the room came on, they glow with a bright green light that cast away any shadow present. "I had these installed for added protection," explained Rachael, "Like garlic against vampires."

"Vampires." I said sarcastically, "I best be going now."

"Bye Pappy." said Rachael.

"Bye." said Cherskey and Nelly in unison.

I opened the front door and walked outside out into the night, just when I shut the door I heard Rachael's muffled voice from inside the home. "Just don't worry about us Papa Smurf," she said, "The other smurfs in the village are your greater concerns, locking the door now."

I heard several locks on the door latched in place, including spikes that erect from the door and imbed themselves into the frame, similar to a door on a safe. The aluminum panels on the windows slides down and sealed them, if the security bars enclosing the windows isn't enough. With Rachael taken care of, I head out into the village.

If I'm going to get to Squeamy Squirmy Grotto, I must make my way through the Smurf Village and follow the nature trail that leads to the grotto. The trip would take me at least an hour, hopefully an hour. The Great Oak Tree might be along the way, I could use that for reference. I walked through the village without much problems, the lights in the mushroom buildings were still on, but just as I past by them they go out.

I didn't bother checking on the smurfs to see if they're alright, I don't wanna waste any time tonight. If I waste any time, I would regret it later when I meet face to face with the sun again.

Just when I was about to think that the Dark Presence won't come after me, I heard it roar as it attacked a mushroom house at random. There, I heard Handy scream for mercy, "Get away! Get away!" he scream, "AHHH!"

"Handy!" I cried as I started running towards his house, "Handy! I'm coming!"

"Someone help me!" he cried, "Help me! Help me! I'm hurt, I can't move! Anysmurf out there! Help!"

When I approached his house, I noticed the door was smashed into splintered fragments. When I walked in, I found the house trashed and saw a blood trail that leads me straight to Handy. He was laying on the floor with his back up against the wall, he looked like he was tossed across the room and slammed against the wall like a rag doll. My flashlight revealed the horrifying mess the Dark Presence made as I approach Handy, with generosity in mind.

"Papa Smurf?" he asked as I approach.

"Great Smurfs." I said when I took a look at his leg, it was bent the wrong way, "What happened?"

"It smurfed me without warning," explained Handy, "Even though the lights were on. It was so dark, so horrifying."

He coughed, and out came blood from his mouth, "Its going to come back for me," he wheezed, "You must go, there's not much you can do for me now but leave me be."

"Just hang in there Handy." I reassured, "I'll fix this."

Handy took a deep breath and rest his head up against the wall, "So dark," he repeated, "Everything looks worse than it actually feels..."

There's nothing I could do for him but leave him dying, this was hard for me when I was walking out of his house, I really wanted to help but I can't tell what was more important. Just as I stepped outside, I heard Handy screamed, followed by a crashing sound behind me. I turned around and looked back into the house to find a dust cloud, the Dark Presence roared at me from within the house. When the dust settles, Handy was gone.

I rushed inside and discovered a massive hole in the wall, the Dark Presence must have thrown Handy up against it and caused it to shatter. "Do you need a repair job?" I heard Handy's voice outside, it sounded wrong and exaggerated, not to mention part of his speech sounded like a demon.

When I walked out the hole, I sensed something behind me and turned around to a horrifying sight. "Smurf Village BUILDING CODES requires that most house must be MUSHROOMS!" said Handy as he stood on the roof of his house, his eyes were dark and the shadows were protecting him from harm, not to mention he was holding an ax.

I watched as he jumps down from the roof as he continues ranting, "All HOUSES must be inspected to MAKE SURE that they can WITHSTAND floods, fires, and EARTHQUAKES! The wood used for THE SKELETON must be oak and nothing ELSE!"

"Handy!" I cried, "Handy! No!"

That's when I saw many light blue smurf Taken appear out of thin air, I watched as they banishing hatchets and pickaxes. They were screaming gibberish, unintelligible speech. It was an ambush. I knew there's no way for me to fight all of them, so I ran.

The Taken were right behind me, I ran through the village as I saw the Dark Presence take over everything in my path. From mushroom houses to ordinary objects, its language showed rage and revenge. With darkness bleeding out of the mushroom houses near me, its clear that I must leave the village.

As I continued running, I saw hatchets and pickaxes fly over my head repeatedly. They were throwing stuff at me, and were missing every shot terribly. Nearby, a door to a mushroom house busted open and Painter Smurf came storming out with an ax in his hand. "Behold!" he roared, "My MASTERPIECE!"

Painter was also a Taken, seeing him made me run faster. I heard the weird sound of a Taken running at impossible speeds coming up behind me, then I saw Handy past by me. "Check your house for ROT!" he roared as he slowed down to normal speed and charged at me with an ax.

He tried to swing his ax at me, but I managed to dodged it in time. As I continued running, he keeps up with his unnatural speed ability. I began to hear a second Taken coming after me at supersonic speeds, when I looked back I saw it was Painter. I kept running, but I was becoming tired. I'm not sure how long I could keep running, I thought the Taken would eventually get me.

I was wrong though, I was approaching the edge of the village. There, I saw the word "Wheels" hovering above the ground underneath what appears to be an outdoor lamp. Suddenly the outdoor lamp came on and bathed the area underneath it with light, the light activated the word and it dropped what they call a smurfvee behind. It was a high tech smurfmobile made and used by green smurfs, this one had extra lights on its roof which will increase the range of the vehicle.

I rushed over to the light and eventually reached it in time, at the moment I stepped underneath the light I looked back and saw the Taken vanished into nothing. I pant loudly, trying to catch my breath as I rest underneath the artificial lightsource. As I sat there, I pounded the ground in disgust. The fact that I was chased out of the village by my own smurfs stung my heart hard. I was upset, I needed a moment to cool down.

The phone in my pocket suddenly rang, I quickly got it out and answered it. "Papa Smurf," I heard the Rational Chernov's voice on it, "You must not let anger overtake you, the smurfs who were trying to kill you are not your smurfs anymore."

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"There's a link between us," said Chernov, "I can sense your emotions are flaring, I know this may not be a good time to call you but there's no good time when it's night. Just get a grip and ease yourself, this is just what the Dark Presence wanted you to do."

He's right, the Dark Presence wanted me to be upset. This is a psychological war, not just a war between light and dark as previously thought. "Okay Chernov," I said, "I'll get to you soon, just hang in there."

"Since I'm up in a tree, I will." said Chernov, "Just hope they don't bring in the chainsaws again."

Chernov hangs up the phone, I placed the phone into my pocket and took a deep breath. Time to refocus on the task at hand, I got back onto my feet and turned my attention towards the vehicle that had appeared from the floating word. The internal lights were on inside, so it must be drivable. I opened the door and got inside the enclosed cab of the smurfvee before shutting the door, revisiting memories from Handy's smurfmobile days I started up the car and shift the gear into drive with ease. With that done, I drove out of the light and onto the trail before me.

To come to think of it, the trail was very long yet wasn't noticeable to humans. As I drove down the trail, I'm beginning to see Taken spawning in my path. This time they were green smurf Taken and not my own, which seemed relieving. The bright headlights blasted off the dark shrouds of the Taken as I draw near them, I ran them over and they burst into static before disappearing. I was terrified, yet I kept right on going.

These long trails happened to be carved out by green smurfs, they came by one day and asked permission to build roads so that they can trade with us. I agreed with their trade agreement and they built the trails between the Green Smurf Colony and the Smurf Village within 48 hours, they made sure that the trails were well hidden and often made them cut through mountains, I just so happened to pass through won along the way.

The green smurfs figured that they could make a decent profit from us, but when they realized we can only trade food, the trade agreement changed to accommodate it. The trade agreement was just in its infinity, we were starting to benefit from it before the nightmares began. After this maybe, we should get much needed supplies to rebuild.

That's a nice thought, the green smurfs have everything they need. They have the resources stockpiled for an emergency, with Handy gone we might need a new carpenter. Knowing the green smurfs are very generous, I shouldn't have much problem with working up a deal with them.

After traveling about a few minutes, I approach Squeamy Squirmy Grotto. I was surprised on how the landscape changed on such a short period of time, their were more trees than I've remembered, not to mention they were bigger than I've remembered. I see why Chernov needed help on getting out of this place. I stopped the smurfvee and putted it on park, I got out the phone and checked for the GPS signal Chernov had talked about.

There it was, and it was pointing me straight into the swampy forest. The signal wasn't that strong, but its revealing Chernov's location on the GPS. Not only do I know where he was, I can also see that he was on the move. This will make things harder for me to find him, but remembering the Taken he said he was fending off, I don't need to ask him why.

I got out of the smurfvee and had my flashlight and gun out in hand, I checked the signal again before I put away the phone, "Okay Chernov," I said to myself, "Where are you?"

I spotted a trail of blue clay, the signal was leading me down the trail so I decided to follow it. As I jogged down the trail, I kept a lookout for unnatural shadows lurking at the distance, sure enough I spot some coming into view. As I near, Green smurf Taken revealed themselves and attacked me.

"Gargamel!" one of them blurted.

I aimed my flashlight at the Taken and waited till their dark shrouds were stripped off, then I fired my gun at them and easily killed them. It wasn't much of a hassle, yet. "Chernov!" I called out into the forest, "Where are you!"

I continued running down the trail when more Taken showed themselves, they yelled gibberish at me as one of them threw a hatchet straight at me. I managed to dodge the hatchet in time and proceed to counterattack, I was getting the hang of killing Taken as they were dropping like flies. One of them charged at me with an ax and tried to swing it at me, I managed to dodge it but an unfortunate Taken who was stunned by flashlight was standing near me, he ended up getting hit with the ax instead and he burst into static before disappearing. It was amusing, however the Taken's comrades didn't seem to care at all, they were ignoring everything else as they come after me.

I fought back as hard as possible, and managed to eliminate the Taken with ease. I kept running, I checked the signal on the phone and it was driving me closer. I've been running through the forest for at least 20 minutes now and I am finally close to finding the rational part of Chernov, that's when something caught my eye. My flashlight revealed something that is light sensitive, it was an arrow. I looked to where the arrow was pointing and discovered a wooden trunk, above it was a painted symbol of a torch inside of a circle right up on the face of a boulder.

Mother Nature promised me supplies, and she fulfilled her promise. I rushed up to the chest and opened it, "Thank you Mother Nature." I said to myself as I dig through the chest, I discovered that it only contained ammunition for my handgun. I grabbed it and replenished my ammo stores, once I'm done I turned back to the trail and resumed my journey.

After jogging for about a minute or two, I discovered I have reached a supposing dead end. I approached a cliff face, I looked down the cliff and discovered that it doesn't go that far down. I guesstimate its at least 15 to 20 feet down. Before me was a small gap, bridged together by a single log. The signal says that I must cross over it, after looking around for an alternative route, I realized I don't have any choice.

I took a deep breath and sighed, then started walking across the log bridge. The log seem to support my weight, but when I got half-way across the log cracked. I stopped, startled by the cracking sound. But that was stupid of me, as the log gave way and I plunged to the ground below. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I fall down the cliff, luckily several objects painfully slowed down my decent and I flopped onto the ground below with a massive headache.

I landed face down on the ground, I coughed as I looked out into the darkness. I saw several Taken approaching me, they were silently walking towards me, taking their time. I was disarmed from the fall, I looked around for my weapons and saw my flashlight nearby. I try to make a grab for it, but a Taken got its foot in the way.

That's it, I thought, I'm smurfed.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Just before I was able to catch the Taken's ax with my forehead, a bright shining light shot out of nowhere and explodes, killing off all the Taken in the area. I was saved, but who? As I get back up onto my feet, I saw a tall green smurf approach me, holding a Heavy-Duty lantern flashlight and a flare gun with its barrel smoking. It took me a moment before realizing it, it was the Rational Chernov, I found him, or he found me. I saw that he was missing his smurf hat, I remembered that his insane counterpart had it so I didn't ask where his hat was.

As he approached, he picked up my flashlight and handed it to me, I took it without question. "Its great to see you again," he said calmly, "Just seeing you Paps made my days of frustration and anger go away within an instant."

He gave me a hug, and I patted him on the back. "Thanks for the close save," I said, "Now I understand why you need help getting out, since I no longer know this place as it once was. But you can still smurf your way out of here, so why do you really need my help?"

"Truth is I was ridiculously outnumbered by the Dark Presence's forces," explained Chernov, "I need help getting out, I need someone that is wise enough not to get eaten up by darkness. You proved strong for your age, since you showed the little fear. That is why I chose you to come pick me up, I made sure that the Dark Presence can only kill you and not take you over completely through my writing."

"Your Taken was insulting me," I said, "Saying such criticism that would make Brainy jealous, what was that about?"

"I had doubts about you when we first met," explained Chernov, "I thought you will fail to adjust to the sudden change of the green smurf's arrival due to your age, I know how generation gaps work Paps and so I had such grudges against you. I no longer had such grudges when we encountered the Green Smurf Colony, but it still has to come out sooner or later."

"We all thought we've lost you for good, Rachael shoot your Taken with a flare gun without hesitation."

"My family was bred for war, we accept our losses easily, sure we would cry and whimper about it but we eventually suck it up and move on."

"Well Chernov, you sure don't give up easily, like a knight you and your family are."

Chernov cracked a smile, "We weren't knights for a hundred years, the last knight in my family was my human great-grandfather, age 105. After all these years, he's still alive and kicking. When he was young, he witnessed his father being murdered right before his very eyes. I'm just glad history hasn't been repeated for my children, when you stopped my Taken."

That was a chilling thought, his children, maybe the green smurfs, might accuse me as a murderer despite I was fighting in self-defense. I never made anyone's lives miserable ever, but seeing how close I was to doing so creep me out a lot. "My kids will understand it Paps," said Chernov, "You don't have to waste 5 minutes so your brain can process the information."

"5 minutes already past!" I asked.

"No," said Chernov, "Lets not stay here, lets get out of this hell."

Me and Chernov made our way across the side of the cliff, for some reason the cliff looks taller than it appears, "I thought you've died when I saw you crash down to Earth," said Chernov, "That was a nasty fall you've took."

"I'm fine," I answered, "I'm not hurt."

"Judging by on how you've handle your exit from the Smurf Village, you must not be hurt at all." said Chernov sarcastically.

"Not exactly," I replied, "I was devastated from the lost of my smurfs, especially when they smurfed against me."

"I was too by the lost of my own, but since they're a real pain in the ass to begin with, the sympathy was short-lived. That's one of the reasons I live with you guys."

"Yes I know, you've told all of us months back."

"I just have to ask, when you've left the village did any Taken followed you all the way over here?"

Without warning, the winds began to blow and the shadows began to move. I had completely forgotten about the Taken back at the Smurf Village, they must have followed me here. "The Dark Presence must be getting them into position." I blurted out.

"Correct," I said, "There they are now."

I looked ahead of us and saw light-blue smurf Taken appearing from thin air, they held up hatchets, pickaxes, and simple 2 x 4s as they come after us. "Papa Smurf won't tolerate lazy smurfs," said one of the Taken, "Everysmurf must play their part."

"I don't either." said Chernov sarcastically, "At least they still have some sympathy for you Paps."

One of the Taken threw a hatchet straight at me, I managed to dodge it before it was able to hit me, "Yeah right." I said.

Chernov laughed as he fired a flare at them with his flare gun at them, the flare explodes in the center of the group of Taken and killed them all instantly, their bodies vanished as the flare lights up the place for a few seconds. "That was my last flare," said Chernov as he pocketed the flare gun, "Need a gun?"

He handed me a pistol and I took it, suddenly he pulled out an SIR out of his backpack. The SIR was in two pieces, so he snapped them together and loaded it with ammunition. "You're always packing heat?" I asked.

"And you thought my girlfriend was always loaded." said Chernov.

Chernov sounded like he was in a good mood, he told me he was angry and pissed awhile he was on the phone with me, the tone he used says otherwise. I cannot understand why he sounded so happy, I thought he was going to curse and swear his mouth off when we fight the Taken together, but he just won't show that. His spirits was probably lifted by my arrival, I predicted he would soon loose it again once he finds out we're going in circles.

"Where are we going Chernov?" I asked.

"Looking for a way up that cliff you fell down from," said Chernov, "Maybe there's a way back up, since I've scouted this entire forest and got nowhere, the best we can hope for is the high ground."

Suddenly we felt the earth shake for a few seconds, "That must be the Dark Presence redesigning the route you've used to get here," said Chernov, "The Dark Presence can only move trees and earth, but not points of interests. You can be sure that the Great Oak Tree will still be there since where you've left it, its ridiculously long roots made sure that its not going anywhere."

"As the Great Oak Tree is the least of my concerns." I muttered.

"Its a living thing Papa Smurf," said Chernov, "Have sympathy for the trees, without them we wouldn't have oxygen to breathe."

As we came around a bush, a combination of light-blue and green smurf Taken showed themselves, screaming gibberish and unintelligible speech. We shined our flashlights at them and removed their dark shrouds, there happened to be a light-blue smurf Taken going supersonic in the area. Chernov managed to take the speedy Taken without difficulty and gunned it down with ease, we soon finished off the rest of the Taken afterwords.

We continued down the side of the cliff and discovered a natural ramp leading up the mountain, I was relieved to see it, since it felt forever when we were searching for it. As we walked up the ramp, we began to hear a familiar voice, "Make sure you are using THE RIGHT NAILS! Nails that AREN'T SMURFY enough will not HOLD THE WOOD... in place, nails that are TOO SMURFY will SPLIT the wood!"

"Handy a Taken?" asked Chernov.

"Yup." I said.

"We'll mourn him right after we kill him," said Chernov, "That way he won't kill us when we're mourning."

"Ha." I chuckled.

"See Paps, nothing to it." complimented Chernov.

As we got onto the trail above us, something came to mind, "I thought you've destroyed the Dark Presence with your writing?" I asked, "We came all the way to the Green Smurf Colony after being driven out by the Dark Presence due to a story you don't remember writing, then we came back home so you can write the epilogue to your story on your own terms. What really happened Chernov?"

"The scales have to be balanced," I said, "I have to create a new plot in order to ensure the Dark Presence's destruction, unfortunately this wasn't how I expected it would turn out."

"I haven't found any manuscript pages, except the ones you've left behind."

"I have them on my person, turns out they can provide more than a moment of entertainment."

"How?"

"Oh, you'll see."

Looks like he discovered something more than just manuscript scenarios coming true, it might help us later. Just as we reached the top of the cliff, the trees towering over us appeared to be moving on their own. As we look back, we saw the trees creeping across the path behind us, blocking the way we came. "The Dark Presence must be leading us towards an ambush." I said.

"I know," said Chernov, "That's what the manuscript said the Dark Presence would do, there's going to be an ambush ahead so prepare yourself for a fight, as if you're performing a dramatic final stand."

I've never put so much trust into Chernov more than any life threatening situations up to this point of time, he knows what's going to happen because he made it happen. He written it all down on manuscripts, and now those manuscripts are coming true. Chernov could have even written my thoughts and words on his manuscripts, which means he's in control and not mine. He kept me safe from the Dark Presence this far, but I'm not sure how long that insurance will last.

As we jogged down the blue clay road, the winds and shadows began to shift again. Just as we rushed into a large clearing, Handy appeared out of the darkness, with ax in hand. "When smurfs get tired," he blurted, "THEY GET CARELESS!"

He runs either back and forth or in circles around us at a time with superior speed, soon more Taken showed themselves as we tried to fight back. I went after Handy as Chernov focused his attention at the Taken. Handy tried to come at me with his ax a couple of times, slowing down to normal speed before attacking. I managed to doge his ax and he took off running in supersonic speed again, I began to find it all annoying instead of frightening.

I aimed my flashlight at him long enough for his dark shroud to be destroyed, I quickly gunned him down just as he stopped running extremely fast. After firing a few shots at him, Handy burst into static and vanished.

After he was gone, that's when I heard the chainsaw. An obese green smurf came into the scene welding one, the chainsaw was powerful enough to cut me in half. "Work hard! Play hard!" screamed the chainsaw wielding Taken.

My flashlight was quick in cutting the Taken's shadow down to size, but that just angered him and he let out a loud roar. The Taken charged at me like a rhino and I quickly jumped out of the way as he comes passing by, I quickly refocused my flashlight at the Taken and discovered that its chainsaw stalled. It was trying to restart it, ignoring the light I was shining directly into its face, by the time he restarted the chainsaw's motor is darkness armor flashed off its body.

I proceed to gun the Taken down, it proved quite strong and was resisting the bullets I'm firing at it. A few more shots suddenly made him burst into static and disappeared, including the chainsaw.

"The hell with this!" I heard Chernov cursed, "Let's get out of here!"

Me and Chernov ran out of the clearing as more and more Taken showed themselves, many of them were gibbering non-sense like crazy. I don't know where the trail we're running on will lead us, I just hope it will lead us outta here. After running for a few minutes, we caught sight of Squeamy Squirmy Grotto. There was a tall lantern shining a light over the smurfvee I came here with, the light was sufficient enough for taking refuge in.

"Nice ride Paps." chuckled Chernov.

We keep running as the sound of a loud tornado was closing in from behind, I looked back and saw the most massive tornado I've ever seen in 300 years. "Great smurfs!" I gasped, "Run Chernov! Run!"

"You're going too slow!" blurted Chernov, "Let me help!"

Before I even knew it, Chernov picked me up and carried me to the smurfvee. He was running faster than I could run, I didn't complain when I saw logs come flying at us. They imbed themselves into the earth just in arms length away from us, the Dark Presence has enough logs to keep doing this all night. By the time we reached the smurfvee, Chernov opened the driver side door and tossed me into the passenger seat next to him.

"You don't have to carry me Chernov!" I snapped.

"Just thank me for not getting impaled!" he reasoned.

Chernov started up the smurfvee as the light protecting it pops, as its light went out we drove straight out of Squeamy Squirmy Grotto as fast as we can. When I looked back, I saw the Grotto be consumed in darkness. Distracted by the Dark Presence, I jumped when I felt we hit something. When I shot my attention back to the front, I saw a Taken burst into static as it was chucked to the side of the road by the smurfvee's momentum.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Painter Smurf," said Chernov, "He didn't flinched when I ran him over."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Chernov drove us back to the Smurf Village, he was quite a swell driver the way he control's the smurfvee in high rated speeds. I try to relax, trying to ease myself from nearly being overwhelmed by Taken. "Nearly got outta there alive," said Chernov, "I thought the Dark Presence would total us completely."

"I'm still confused on why I have to save you." I said again.

"Scales have to be balanced Paps," said Chernov to me again, "Or else the situation would be worse than it has to be."

I couldn't make sense of all of this, I do understand that the scales have to be balanced but did Chernov used me? Was this all necessary? What is he really planning? "Here Papa Smurf," said Chernov as he pulls out a handful of manuscript pages out of his backpack, "These will help put your confusion at rest."

I grabbed the papers from Chernov, under the glow of the smurfvee's light I read every manuscript page Chernov gave me. He written such detail of the events I had just experienced, the Dark Presence attacking me and Handy being taken by the witch, he also described my thoughts about the nightmare, it scared me to the core. After reading a few more manuscript pages detailing my experiences, I reached a point where I had enough.

"Stop the smurfvee." I said bluntly.

Without question, Chernov stopped the smurfvee and I got out. I slammed the door shut and marched off into the night, "Where do you think you're going?" asked Chernov.

"I'm not going to stand for you for getting my smurfs killed," I said, "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Papa Smurf," said Chernov as he pulls up and keeps a constant pace to me, "You can't let what I did effect you this deep!"

"Smurf yourself!" I barked at him.

"You don't understand Papa Smurf." insisted Chernov, "You're not turning your back at me, you're turning your back at yourself. You are becoming the very thing that makes you unsmurfy, you're acting human, a selfish one."

I stopped cold in my tracks, I realized that he was right. I was acting human, I was going against my own word about humans. I told my smurfs that despite humanity's benevolence, the dark nature in human hearts made me convince my smurfs not to act like them. By what the Dark Presence did to my smurfs, it tore my heart open and darkness was filling it.

I didn't even knew that rage was building up inside me, Chernov caught it in time and warned me about it. "I have to pull you out of your comfort zone in order to help you Paps," said Chernov, who I nearly forgotten he was there, "There's no other way."

I turned and looked at him, he just sat there staring at me with his hands still on the steering wheel. I sighed as I opened the smurfvee door and got back in, "What exactly did you do?" I asked as I shut the passenger-side door.

"I left loopholes," said Chernov, "Loopholes in which the Dark Presence can fill in, I didn't catch the loopholes in time and so they are attacking your heart as we speak. The major loophole is what you are feeling, I didn't put in too much detail about feelings in the manuscript pages. Truth is Papa Smurf, I wrote that you were upset, I know that sorrow, sadness, and fear can turn into anger because I've been through it, and so have your smurfs."

"The Dark Presence wants this," I said, "Does she?"

"Yup," said Chernov, "And you fell for the trap, but I got you out of the spider's web just in time."

I sat there thinking about it for awhile, after a minutes I decided to continue on, "Drive." I muttered.

Chernov continues driving us towards the Smurf Village, I just sat there trying to sleep. I needed rest, so I tried my best to sleep in the car. Thoughts of the Dark Presence and attacking Taken prevented me from doing so, it feels like that I'm suffering from insomnia.

"We're here." said Chernov as I looked up.

I saw the Smurf Village under attack by the Dark Presence, Chernov stopped the car as he drove underneath an activated outdoor lamp. I was surprised to find the smurfs fighting back the Taken, actually defending themselves instead of hiding. They held flashlights and guns, they were taking out the Taken one by one and even face off against the ones welding chainsaws.

Me and Chernov got out of the smurfvee and watched the show unfold, "Mother Nature must have provided my smurfs with firearms." I said.

"That's not what stuns me," said Chernov, "Who's leading them?"

"Fight back comrades!" I heard Rachael's voice say, "Scourge of light upon the dark!"

"Rachael," chuckled Chernov, "I love that smurf."

Chernov head back to the trunk of the smurfvee and opened it, "Lot of flare gun ammo here," he said, "And some flare guns. Paps, grab some of these, we'll fight back the Taken using flares."

I rushed to the back of the smurfvee and grabbed as much flare gun ammo as I can carry, Chernov handed me the flare gun and I loaded it with a single round. "Just go in and take out as much Taken you can see," said Chernov, "Simple as that."

We grabbed our flashlights and head off into the village, there we split up and scout the entire village for Taken. Where we see a group of Taken, we fire a flare at them, easily killing them. The smurfs who saw our arrival had their morale raised and they continued on to defend their village, interestingly only green smurf Taken were attacking, no light-blue smurf Taken were present at all.

All over the village, I discover crates full of flare gun ammo, they help me replenish my reserves when I run low on flares. I couldn't remember how many flares I have used, but it was a lot. Many smurfs came to my aid as I fight back the Taken, they were spot on when attacking them, "Papa Smurf!" I heard a smurf say, "You're okay!"

"Just keep fighting my smurfs!" I called out to them, "We're not out of the woods yet."

Just as we finished off the last of the Taken, we saw the Dark Presence itself approach. The tornado form it uses was ripping through the trees, tossing them aside like twigs as it comes thundering into the village. I aimed my flare gun at it and fired, I watched as the flare comes shooting at the Dark Presence and explodes, I can hear it scream in pain from the light.

Chernov fired away some more flares at the tornado at another place in the village as I backed him up, the tornado was tossing random junk at us and we took our time dodging them all. The winds were blowing so fast that it would have picked me up and tossed me across the village like a rag doll, thankfully I wasn't close enough for the Dark Presence to do so.

"Your smurfs will make good puppets," I heard the Dark Presence say, "So weak, they're easy prey. Before I get to them, I'll start, with you."

"Not if I get to you first." I said as I fired my final flare at the Dark Presence.

The flare shoots into the tornado and explodes, I heard the Dark Presence die as the tornado disintegrates into shadows. At first, everything went silent, but soon the whole village erupted in celebration. The smurfs around me were cheering and praising me for defeating the Dark Presence, Chernov regrouped with me and shook my hand, "With that taken care of," he said, "I can now reclaim myself."

"Chernov!" I heard Rachael's voice say.

Rachael came out of nowhere with a flashlight in her hand, she rushed up to Chernov and gave him a big hug, "You're back!" she cried, "I missed you!"

"I missed you to Rachael," I said, "But I'm not entirely here."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Remember, I'm the Rational part of Chernov," said Chernov, "Papa Smurf saved me so I can reunite with the Chernov who constantly dreams and is bent of self-destruction, so where is that Chernov?"

The expression on Rachael's face changed when she releases her hug from Chernov, "Uh oh." she muttered.

All the smurfs' excitement were short-lived afterwords, its clearly not over yet.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

Me, Chernov, and Rachael rushed back to Chernov's house where his defective counterpart was taking shelter at, several smurfs were following behind to see if they can provide help. When we got to the house, we found it empty and the typewriter. "Oh god," cried Rachael, "I let him get away."

"Don't blame yourself Rachael," reassured Chernov, "He's going to get away regardless, but I know where he would be hiding."

"Where?" asked the smurfs in unison.

"Where do you think I would go when I'm in distress?" he asked.

Everysmurf muttered questions to each other, trying to think of an answer. "To the lab where you were born," I said, "The lab where we first met."

"Exactly," I said, "We'll find him there, a full 100 percent."

"How can you be sure?" asked Rachael.

"That's where I always go when I get a bad case of depression," I said, "Where else would I go, Green Smurf Colony is too nosy and the smurfs there get on your nerves. The lab is where we shall go, he won't leave that place for anything."

"Would he try to write something on the typewriter?" I asked.

"The best we can hope for is that he writes random short stories," I said, "Or we can hope he doesn't have any paper available for him to write on."

"All the plank sheets of paper are gone," said Brainy as he examines Chernov's desk, "Not a single sheet was left behind."

Everysmurf gasped, but Chernov doesn't seem afraid. "Its not the end of the world smurfs," I said, "Even if our lives were going to an abrupt end, the world won't end. This planet has another 5 billion years left to live, so that gives us enough to enjoy life as it is. For all those ghost stories you've heard in your lifetime, you are now in one. What's the point of a good horror story if there isn't a climax, well we're experiencing one right now."

"He's right my smurfs," I said, getting everysmurf's attention, "What's the point of living if there's no threats, when I mean threats I mean thrills. For as long as we could remember, we fought evil for the past century and a half. There has been no greater evil than the one we've just smurfed, Gargamel didn't stand a chance against the Dark Presence."

"Rachael inspired us to fight back," said Hefty, "Was it either her weird dancing or her encouraging speech."

"You must be the one to lead us Papa Smurf," said Chernov, "Despite the contrary, I'm not worthy enough to lead all of you smurfs. If I were to lead you guys, I would kick your ass on a daily basis like a drill sergeant. Green smurfs are used to that kind of treatment, since its all fun and games to them. But you smurfs, are just too sensitive. Lead us on Papa Smurf, this is your moment now, I've done my part."

"Okay my smurfs," I said, "Lets go out there and find the other Chernov before he can cause collateral damage."

"Yeah!" cheered the smurfs.

Just as we walked out of the house, we encountered more Taken waiting for us. This time, they were light-blue smurf Taken and they were eager to kill us. "Animals are your friends!" one of them blurted out.

The smurfs shined their flashlight at the Taken and kept them at bay, when their shrouds of darkness were stripped away by light the smurfs gunned them down without hassle. When the smurfs took out the Taken, we regrouped before heading out into the woods. "We'll encounter remnants of the Dark Presence's forces deep inside the woods," said Chernov, "Originally set in place in an effort to stop my counterpart, he's a slippery worm."

Pushing through the forest is like trying to find fool's gold, it was so dark that the light of the moon can't reach the forest floor. We all felt alien in our own backyard, since the Dark Presence made it foreign to us. Nevertheless, we push through the dark forest and eventually started following the right direction. Cherskey and Nelly were with us, and they don't seem afraid anymore.

"Do you know where we're even going?" asked Brainy in a skeptical tone.

"You've been to the lab before Brainy," I reminded him, "You should know where it is."

"Oh." muttered Brainy.

Encountering Taken is one thing, encountering them in an area where you can't see your own hand in front of your face is another. The forest was so dark that, if we don't' have any flashlights illuminating the place, we would be going through it blind. You don't' want to be traveling through the forest at night, its suicide. But due to the danger Chernov's counterpart pose, we have to risk it, at least I'm not doing this alone.

"Why would you go there when depressed?" asked Smurfette.

"Cause that's where my mother died," said Chernov, "We'll find him next to the refrigerator where her body is being kept."

"Make sense now," I said, "Its natural for creatures to bond with their mothers and vise versa."

"Of course," said Chernov, "Natural indeed."

I think back during the Humanoid Wars when we discovered the lab and Chernov finding his mother's body, seeing how much sympathy he showed revealed his good side. He saved us multiple times, so many times that its becoming common. The smurfs were getting close to him by placing their lives in his protection, he never turned down their trust. He's been honest with us, but deep down we think he keeps some secrets from us, secrets that could damage our relationship with each other.

The Dark Presence was a wake-up call, displaying a close lesson for us to learn: Even your closest loved ones can turn against you.

Seems that the Dark Presence had rearranged the positions of the trees, we couldn't tell if we are going the right way. I pulled out the satellite phone and checked the GPS signal, I discovered that its pointing the way towards Chernov's counterpart.

"I think I pinpointed his exact location." I announced.

"So tell me," said Chernov, "Are we going the right way?"

"Umm," I checked the GPS signal and saw we were going in the right direction, "Yeah., we're going the right way."

With our direction now certain, we continued through the forest. Along the way, we encountered some Taken, they were just stragglers and were easily taken care of. So far, the Taken were green smurfs, due to the hgih concentration of green smurfs I suspect we might be near the Colony itself. I quickly remembered that they are far away from our village, it seemed unlikely that we're close by since it took an entire day just to get there.

"Are we there yet?" complained Clumsy.

"No." I said.

"Are we there yet?" complained Brainy.

"No." I said again.

"Are we there yet?" asked Brainy and Clumsy in unison.

"No! No! NO!" I replied.

"How do we know when we're there?" asked Clumsy.

"When a huge ass mountain blocks our way," explains Chernov, "Once that happens, we're there."

Brainy and Clumsy said nothing more after that, after walking for a few more minutes Smurfette broke the silence. "What are we going to find when we get there exactly?" she asked.

"We're going to find my counterpart laying on the floor," said Chernov, "Crying for help. We'll also find manuscript pages he written lying all over the floor around him, foretelling random events in each page."

"Is he going to put up a struggle?" asked Smrufette.

"No," said Chernov, "He has given up, so he won't fight for anything."

"What about the Taken?" asked Rachael.

"There would be a lot of them crowding the entrance," said Chernov, "But not enough for them to overwhelm us."

"I knew we're going to have an epic fight on our hands," said Hefty, "We'll smurf them as long as they keep smurfing."

"Just be sure you don't catch an ax with your forehead," said Chernov, "That will ruin your day badly."

We continued onward, after what seemed to be an hour we past through some bushes and found ourselves out of the forest, before us was a large mountain, and it looked familiar alright. "We're here," said Chernov, "Now here comes the part where we fight for our lives."

Right on cue, numerous Taken came out of the shadows. Even though the natural moonlight was lighting up the place, it was not enough to harm the Taken in any way. They all spoke out-of-place speech as they marched towards us, axes in hand.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

"For the Motherland!" one of them blurted out.

We aimed our flashlights at the Taken and they pushed on, they proved quite strong when we challenged them. We have to get into the lab, but entrance at the mouth of a cave which is right on a cliff not far up. Climbing it will prove difficult, but with our jumping ability it wouldn't be a problem with us. As I glanced at the top of the mountain, something caught my eye, a searchlight.

The searchlight appeared to be hooked up to a generator, if I can get the generator to run I could use the searchlight to destroy the Taken below. With hatchets and pickaxes flying over my head, I rushed up to the wall and started a mad climb up its face. "Grandpa Smurf would be proud of you!" I heard Brainy yelled, "Don't worry, he's fine!"

I didn't see Grandpa Smurf when I got back to the Smurf Village, I'll worry about that later. Climbing up the wall face wasn't too difficult, since the rocks are easy to grab onto. It was stable enough to support my weight, but I fear that the rocks would might give way after discovering deep cracks on them. I saw a hatchet burrowing itself into the rock next to me, it was clear that the Taken was trying to get me. I quickly climbed up the rest of the rock face and made it to the top.

When I reached the top of the cliff, I discovered that the searchlight and generator was made for humans, not smurfs. They were so massive that it would be difficult to move them, but I must give it a try. I rushed up to the generator and jumped onto its ignition cord, I then placed my feet onto the side of the generator and propelled myself outward, pulling on the ignition cord.

The first try didn't start it, so I positioned myself again and tried a second time, still no go. Finally, a third try made the generator roared to life and the searchlight flickered on. It was pointing straight at the sky, not where I wanted it. Discovering that it was right up the edge of the cliff, I rushed up to it and used all my strength to push it downward. With strength I did not know I have, I managed to repositioned the searchlight so it was aiming straight at the Taken below.

The light was so powerful that it killed the Taken off immediately, I repositioned it again and made it faced downward, straight onto the face of the cliff. The light's beam skimmed the cliff face right to the ground, making a safe passage way for the smurfs below to climb up on. "Way to go Papa Smurf!" I heard Chernov say, "Defend your position until we get up there!"

I sensed something behind me, when I turned I saw that there were Taken coming after me, including one obese Taken with a chainsaw. "Chainsaws are noisy!" it spoke.

I discovered a nearby opened crate full of flares, I rushed at it as an ax fly right past me. I grabbed some flares and lit one, repelling the Taken back with a bright green light. I dropped the flare and proceed to aim my flashlight on the chainsaw wielding Taken, since it's dark shroud can regenerate. I held them back and stripped off many Taken's dark shrouds, then I proceed to gun them down.

I heard the chainsaw conked out, and I refocused my attention at the Taken who's wielding it after killing a couple of other Taken. I noticed its dark shroud was gone, and so I started gunning it down. Despite being resistant to my attacks, the Taken burst into static and vanished. With that Taken gone, I refocused my attention to the others and proceed to attack them as well.

I held my ground the best I could, but a couple of the speedy Taken caused me to change my tactics. I spark a flare and toss it over to the group of Taken, then pick off those who were backing away from it, eventually I lead some of them to the edge of the cliff where they fall to their death. For some reason, the supersonic Taken were easy to kill, they were soon taken care of.

Just as I killed many of the Taken, more spawned from the darkness. "You gotta be kidding me." I said to myself.

Suddenly multiple flares shot out from behind me and slammed into the Taken, they all burst into static and vanished. I turned around and saw Chernov and the other smurfs standing there, holding flare guns. "Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem our dreams!" sang Chernov, "Shine a light upon this night of otherworldy fiends!"

"You and your dramatic entries Chernov." I chuckled, all my smurfs laughed in response.

The generator suddenly conked out and the searchlight darkened, "Let's get this over with already." I said.

We all rushed towards the small cave and saw a light at the end of the tunnel, the highly-advanced human made lab was accessible as its bulkhead door was opened just a crack. Light was pouring in from inside, and we went inside. There, we found manuscript pages all over the smooth concrete floor. There were so many that I felt frightened from what they contained. "This way." said Chernov.

We followed Chernov into the room where he's born, and there was his counterpart, lying on the floor on his side just at the corner of the room. The typewriter was sitting next to him as manuscript pages littered the floor, it appears that his counterpart was very upset. "Please help me!" he muttered, "Somebody, please help me."

I remembered that the Insane Chernov wore the camouflaged smurf hat as the Rational Chernov doesn't. We approach the Insane Chernov as he lays helpless on the floor, he doesn't seem to noticed our presence. "How are we going to do this?" asked Rachael.

The Rational Chernov handed Rachael his weapons before approaching the Insane Chernov, "Somebody," the Insane Chernov muttered again, "Please help me!"

The Rational Chernov reached down and touched the Insane Chernov on the shoulder, spooking him. At that moment, the two Chernovs burst into static and merged into a singularity, becoming one. In a flash of light, the now unified Chernov stood there blinking his eyes, we saw that he was wearing his camouflaged hat again. "I'm me again," he said as he touched his face, "My thoughts are now clear once more."

Rachael dropped everything and rushed up to Chernov, giving him a big hug. "Just as I remembered," said Rachael, "You feel whole again."

"What was it like Chernov," I asked, "From being two of yourself?"

"My brain chemistry is screwed up at the moment," explained Chernov, "From being in two different places at once, I'm getting a really bad headache from my two sets of different memories trying to negotiate each other. By far, I think my Insane half has written at least 70 manuscript pages as my Rational half written 20. In one of those manuscript pages my two halves had written, it detailed the return of many smurfs taken by the Dark Presence. They won't remember what really happened tonight and last night."

"Can we go home now?" asked Brainy.

"First we gather up all these manuscript pages," I said, "Then we go home."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else**

**Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters**

We took our time gathering all of the manuscript pages as Chernov counted them all, he concluded that we've gathered all of the manuscript pages and it was time to go. He picked up the typewriter and we all head back home, by the time we got back the sun was just starting to rise above the horizon. Chernov was going through the manuscript pages along the way, the events depicted on them presented no harm to us at all. Instead, they depicted of bizarre events instead.

Once at the Smurf Village, we encountered the smurfs who were possessed by the Dark Presence. Handy and Painter Smurf felt awful as they suffer from massive aches and pains, "The last thing I remembered was being hit by a smurfvee." said Painter Smurf.

"Sorry about that." said Chernov.

"You know what," said Handy, "I'm going to sleep in today, this is all just too much to comprehend."

"Did you wake up lying on the ground?" asked Brainy.

"Yes." answered Handy.

"How about I give you a massage," said Brainy, "I can offer a helping hand-"

Handy cut Brainy off by kicking him in the groin, it wasn't hard enough to take flight but it definitely hurt. "The irony is that a manuscript page told of this moment," said Chernov as he handed Handy a page, "See."

"That is ironic," said Handy, "I wouldn't call it ironic since it says its going to happen, I just find it surprising."

"What are we going to do now Chernov?" asked Rachael.

"I'll tell you what I'm going we're going to do," said Chernov, "We party all day long, and get drunk all day long. There's enough moonshine and vodka here for everysmurf to drink."

"Hooray!" cheered the smurfs.

"Oh no!" I demanded, "I forbid it, no is not going to perform this unsmurfy act!"

"It says here on this manuscript page that we will," said Chernov, "It also says we'll lock you in your own home right after Grandpa Smurf does a nerve pinch on your shoulder."

"What?" I asked.

At that moment, I felt a sting in my shoulder and I blacked out.

When I woke up, I felt groggy and confused. I couldn't remember what happened, until I heard the noise coming from outside. Their were smurfs cheering and singing outside, they were having fun. I discovered rope was tied around me, it trapped my arms and legs and I couldn't get out. I looked over to my front door and saw a brick wall blocking the way out.

I wasn't alone however, the Smurflings was with me, including Cherskey, Nelly, and Baby Smurf. They were just talking to each other, not having any fun at all. "What happened?" I asked.

"Grandpa Smurf locked you and all of us in here as Handy bricked up the door," said Cherskey in a mature tone, "I've never seen such anarchy before in my entire life."

Suddenly a jug came flying through the window and landed on the floor, shattering upon impact. "How long has everysmurf been partying?" I asked.

"Since 7 o clock this morning," said Snappy, "Its now 5 PM."

Outside, I heard Chernov singing and playing a guitar. He sounded great, better than Harmony Smurf. "Can you untie me please?" I asked.

"Grandpa Smurf told us not to untie you," said Nelly, "But screw it."

Sassette walked up to me and untied my bonds, once freed I got up and rushed over to the nearby broken window. There I saw Grandpa Smurf chucking moonshine from a wooden keg awhile he was being held upside down by Rachael, once Grandpa Smurf was done Rachael sat him down, "That is how you do a head stand," said Grandpa Smurf, "You young smurfs will never do it right!"

All the smurfs laughed as Grandpa Smurf stumbles, he's clearly intoxicated. "Why not join them?" asked Cherskey, "Get a break from horror for once?"

"Well," I said, "What the smurf."

I brushed aside the broken glass from the window and climbed through it once outside I joined my fellow smurfs in celebration of life, I would soon regret it the next morning but at least it was good times.

**THE END!**


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